Regional News Briefs: Recent snowfall helps to the Mississippi River

Talk about it

A release of water from the Missouri River, added to recent snow and rainfall, has given some relief to the Mississippi River. The river channel downstream at St. Louis was at about 12 feet yesterday, up 18 inches since Monday.

Had the water level dropped to nine feet, additional restrictions would have been placed on barge traffic – at a time when shipments of essentials like corn, grain, coal and petroleum could suffer billions of dollars of losses. The season’s first major snowstorm blanketed parts of Iowa with a foot of snow and nearly nine inches in Nebraska, with that moisture draining into the Missouri River basin.

The Mississippi always drops to low levels this time of year, but current conditions were considered drastic. Now, instead of this month, the river level isn’t expected to reach nine feet until mid-January.

________________________________________________________________________

A Cold Spring woman was sentenced to life in prison for killing her ex-husband in October 2011. Thirty-nine-year-old Angelina O’Mara pleaded guilty to first-degree murder last month in the shooting death of James O'Mara of Sauk Rapids. The surprise guilty plea came as O’Mara’s trial was entering its fourth day. She's also charged with fatally shooting her boyfriend, Michael Pies of Blaine, a day later in Ashland, Wisconsin. O'Mara claims she shot Pies in self defense as they struggled over a rifle.

Tags: news, wisconsin, minnesota